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“Ahem... Today... we we will be learning about residuals. Please open your books to page 725.” said the the ever-monotonous Mr. Lark. He continued to teach from his wheely chair from behind his desk. Pete knew this stuff for the most part. ‘ Studying... good for you.’ Since he knew all of this residual stuff, he decided to think about what Luc said.

‘They’re out for a week... both of them... I don’t have... no wait... they aren’t my teachers.. so.. that’s sucks... suckish... sucking.... supine... blood... what. What am I thinking about? I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession.... I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession... I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession...’ Those words kept swirling around in his head. He tried to shake them by literally shaking his head, which caused a commotion in the class. ‘Right... don’t shake your head... that makes you look dumb... anyways... Diego... like Karai... and Karai.. well she was distracted... It’s nothing...’ He looked up at the clock, 12:48, only 12 minutes left. Pete surveyed the class to see if anyone was watching him, but instead all he saw were 23 other people texting.

‘I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession... I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession... I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession... I’ve arranged a vacation for Mr. Warden and Mr. Glass. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up Becky’s confession... this doesn’t sit right... What... hmm... why...’ Pete fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat, maybe he would be able to get his mind off of things with some logic problems, specifically the ones that were for next hour.

Luc busied herself selecting just the right background color for her ad. Orange was supposed to make people more hungry, green was supposed to calm them, and so forth and so on, but a huge block of a harsh shade could also be a real turnoff to consumers, Mr. Yagami had told them.

Diego sat down near her, and Karai sat between them with her fancy little laptop. She asked Diego if her comment about love coming naturally had offended him, and if they could maybe hang out. Luc felt a twinge of envy. She knew Diego liked her. But then, she had to agree, things like that should be natural… at least among the Coven members.

Karai got a text. "Aw man, why did this happen? Hank is moving away first thing tomorrow," she told them.

“Seriously? That quick?” commented Luc as she applied her light orange background. Yeah, that looked okay… Hank, well, Luc did have some concern that he was going to squeal. Maybe things were better this way? … That also meant Karai was free, didn’t it? No one ever asked her out on account of him, even though they weren‘t really going out. Now, Diego would make his move, wouldn’t he?

Class felt awfully slow. Finally the bell rang. Luc went to pick up her book, the monotonous Mr. Lark was up next. Luc didn’t dislike him like she disliked Warden, but she did find him incredibly boring.

Trigonometry - Mr. Lark

Mr. Lark, who’d actually gotten out of his wheeled office chair, that was never good, was writing something on the board. Equations, Sine and Cosine… He glanced over his shoulder at the class when the bell rang, “Pop quiz everybody! Get out a sheet of paper and number it 1 to 10!”

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

Diego was almost finished with his advertisement for Bluesky Soda, an organic soda brand. He figured since people were becoming more health-conscious, he figured he could promote a healthier soda at the least. "Did I hurt your feelings? I'm really sorry if I did, but I just think it should come naturally is all. We should get to know each other better, maybe do an activity together outside of school first."

Diego mentally celeberated in joy. He began thinking of what they can do. The first thing that came to mind was video games. Howeverm he then heard Karai gasp and he looked to her.

"Aw man, why did this happen?" Karai spoke out loud but not loud enough to disturb the class. "Hank is moving away first thing tomorrow."

Diego winced.

"...Sorry to hear about that, Karai. But... I'll be here for ya. I'll make sure that the others will leave ya alone. How about after school we play video games or something," he offered to her in a comforting manner.

The Coca Cola ad was coming together. I added some animation and music to it. Even myself as the announcer.

He would be there for me, and we could play video games after school. Definitely. I was about to answer him when the bell rang and I couldn't say anything over all the shuffling and people running off. I closed my laptop, put it away, waved bye to the others and went off to Physics class.

Physics is given in a lecture hall/lab. It's not a lab like for Chemistry, but there are tables for the experiments we sometimes did with models. Mr. Paul Glass was a portly man in his middle 50s, and he walked kind of like a penguin. It was kinda funny, but those who made cracks at him often found themselves in a heap of trouble. Mr. Glass was known for his tests being hard, and for being really tough on people who were late to class. He especially liked to call on the kids in the back of the class, and when they didn't know the answers to the questions he gave them serious detentions. Needless to say, if you had him for Physics and liked to slack off the class was hard. Me? I was doing good in his class because I actually paid attention.

Today we were continuing the lecture on how to calculate electric resistors in Amps. It was a formula and we would just have to cross multiply and solve for a variable. Just basic math. He then went on to talk about different kinds of resistors that could be attached to the circuits.

Diego was currently thinking of alot of things. He was doing all right in Advanced Algebra and most people were actually done with the work, resulting in the latter half of class being goof-off time. As long as they were quiet, they could talk and relax.

Diego was simply thinking of the book. He kept wondering what could it be used for. He was doing all right in class. To be honest, he wanted to win the lottery, invest wisely and live modestly while spending his time writing. Writing novels of all sorts and maybe moving on to other parts of the media. He had all sorts of movie and video game ideas.

He also thought of Karai. THis would be more or less his first date, well pseudo-date at anywayz. He thought of his other friends in the group. He liked them all though he felt something was up with Pete. He didn't know what, but he rubbed Diego the wrong way.

"Don't trust him..." Diego told himself in a different voice before Diego shook his head. He sighed as he looked at the clock and waited for the bell ring. He wanted to go to Karai's locker and confirm their meeting.

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About midway through the class Steve decided his ad was finished. He then managed to endure the boredom of the rest of the Computer Graphic class through a combination of daydreaming and browsing the internet. Finally, Steve’s timewasting efforts were rewarded with the sound of the bell.

5. Advanced Algebra – Mrs Rene

Advanced Algebra was Steve’s least favourite class. It wasn’t that he was doing badly; he merely had no interest in this part of math. Unfortunately, he found that out too late and was now forced to put up with it for the rest of the year.

Today, Mrs Rene gave them a bunch of equations they were supposed to solve before the end of the class. For most of the students there was more than enough time to finish the assignment, but for some reason Steve just couldn’t focus on the letters and numbers in front of him. He managed to get it all done with a couple of minutes to spare, thanks to his good eyesight which enabled him to copy some of the results from a bunch of students sitting around him.

Steve than spent the remaining few minutes watching the seconds hand do its last few rounds before the bell went off. Meanwhile, Steve also made some plans for the afternoon; he wasn’t in the mood for animation, so he would either play some video games or go to the mall and look for some new computer accessories.

Pete looked around after entering Mrs. Johnson's room. It was plastered with dog pictures. Everywhere. Pete took his seat Mrs. Johnson started talking. In the least feminine voice he had ever heard, she said,

"Now class open our notebooks and write this down. Four friends participated in a golf match for help raise money for a local charity. The competition between them was steep and each played one of the best games of his life. During the 18-hole match, each friend played very poorly and over par at one hole. But, each also scored a hole-in-one at one hole. Most amazing, these accomplishments all happened at different holes. Determine the full name of each golfer, the hole number for each poor shot and each hole-in-one, and their final scores.

1. John got the first hole-in-one. Mr. Knight had the highest score (which in golf means he lost the match).

2. Steve, whose last name isn't Price, was over par six holes earlier than his hole-in-one shot.

3. Bill placed ahead of Walter but after Mr. Grant.

4. The man who got the last hole-in-one had the lowest score. The man who was over par last got his hole-in-one first.

5. From the highest score of 64 to the lowest score of 57, the friends placed as: the man whose over par game was 12, Bill, the man who got a hole-in-one at the second hole, and Mr. Mann.

6. The man who shot a hole-in-one in the 6th hole had his over par game in the 4th hole.

If anyone solves this correctly in the first 5 minutes of class, you get one point of extra credit. Otherwise, this is your daily work, if you don;t finish it in class, it becomes homework Have at it!"

'Too easy' Pete thought. He knew right away that Mrs. Johnson had a website full of these problems, and luckily for him, he had found it. He quickly scrawled a grid with the five necesities, first name, last name, hole over par, hole in one, and final score. He quickly scribbled down the answers on his paper and walked up to Mrs. Johnson.

"I'm impressed Pete, only 5 minutes? Good job. Now go do something productive." Something productive for Pete meant thinking about absolutely pointless things. 'Now... what else to do... maybe I should get into gaming... it would be weird... maybe.. hitting forehands are need work... all your base are belong to us... So bored...' Pete waited for the bell to ring at 2:00 so he could go to psychology with a bunch of the members of the covens.

Luc and the rest of the Trig class sluggishly made their way through the boring pop quiz equations and definition questions, that Mr. Lark had scrawled across the board. After all the papers had been turned in he assigned them a light homework assignment that most of them were able to get the majority of done in the last fifteen minutes of class. It was busy work, but it helped Luc distract herself from thoughts about how two of her closest friends were hooking up.

6. Psychology - Mr. Giovanni

It was a relief when the bell rang, and she ran off to her next class. Psychology, it was generally interesting, and Mr. Giovanni had a tendency to go off on tangents about people who’d gone insane or turned out to be sane after all.

As the class settled in Mr. Giovanni sat on his desk (Luc suspected he was lucky the desk was metal, because he was a somewhat tall man and a bit overweight, so if the desk was wooden it’d probably collapse), “So, students…” Long pause, he liked those, seemed to think they were dramatic. He crossed his arms, “Let’s talk about obsession.”

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

Today was Karate day, and we were going to prepare for tomorrow's mini tournament. And by that I mean everybody trying to take me down. I had the highest belt in the class (Green, which really isn't that much of an achievement), so Mrs. Martin decided to do it like that. If you took me down, you got a stripe on your belt. If I took down the whole class and nobody defeated me, I could get my Blue Belt. Depending on how many times I lost I would be graded and could still get a stripe or two. I was looking forward to it.

So today was just a boring practice day. The only thing that made it fun was that I had this class with my girlfriend Anna. I met her in the Gym Locker Room, and we changed into our uniforms. I wore my usual clothes under it, minus jacket of course, and we walked around barefoot. Thankfully the mats were scrubbed between classes and everybody was required to wash their feet with soap in the showers or I'd never step foot out there. The class was coed, with the boys entering into the Gym from their side of the lockers.

We were all just chatting and socializing while waiting for the class to start. Mrs. Martin walked out of the little office and addressed the class. We immediately became silent and sat down. "Alright class, as you know today is practice for tomorrow. Pair up with whoever you like. You'll be practicing techniques we learned this past week, on each other." She wrote a list of the techniques to practice on the board and went around the class, making sure the students were doing it right.

Of course I paired up with Anna. We proceeded to discuss the day's events while trying to land blows on each other or dodging, glancing toward the board to make sure we went down the list the teacher put up.

Diego didn't have a chance to meet Karai at her locker in between classes though he was sure they would be able to talk more about this after school. In the meanwhile, he was going to his last class, much to his relief, Psychology.

He had it with Lucy and Pete.

As he sat down and took out his notebook, he began listening to what Mr. Giovanni said. He enjoyed the arguments and discussions they had. H esaw the teadher go and give his dramtic pause before he crossed his arm. Diego did the same as he wondered what today's topic will be.

It appeared today's topic is obsession.

Mild disappointment. He thought it was a free topic day. He had one in mind. His eyes trailed to Pete for a brief moment. "Nah... Pete doesn't seem like someone to be a sociopath..." Diego thought. Pete's strange behavior reminded him of an evil mastermind chessmaster though Pete seemed like too much of a good guy for that.

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As Pete sat down in his final class of the day, he saw Diego and Luc sitting in their seats. He placed his binder for of notes and homework in his desk and proceeded to watch Mr. Giovanni. The massive man walked over to his desk and then sat down. “So, students…” he looked around the classroom creating a huge pause. '1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... ' Pete thought. “Let’s talk about obsession.”

'Se7en seconds... not bad...' Pete thought. "Does he seriously do that just to keep us in suspense? Or just to help us prepare for the lesson?" Pete whispered to the person sitting next to him. He hadn't recognized her face, maybe she was new. She had long red hair which seemed to curl down the side of her neck. Her eyes were the most pale green, even paler than Jade. He couldn't tell how tall she was, but she didn't appear to be very much taller than him, maybe. She appeared to be a somewhat athletic build with C Cups, but not to the point of where it she was all muscle. The red headed girl quietly giggled, and then responded.

"Well, if were a psychology teacher, I think I would try to get into the minds of my students... It's a smart psychology move." She said quickly, and then proceeded to giggle again. "My name is Emilia, and I just moved here from Atlanta."

"Hi, I'm Pete. Nice to meetcha. Anyways, this guy's pretty cool, so yeah." Pete turned his attention back to Mr. Giovanni whom had started talking about the stages of obsession. It seemed interesting, and Pete started writing this information on a page of his loose leaf.

“Bonjour, class!” Mrs Blanc was enthusiastic and energetic as usual. She was a tall slim redhead in her early thirties and was quite popular with students. She was originally from Bordeaux, but she moved to the USA after high school and has been living in Glenwood for a few years now. “Today, we’ll be talking about French culture. First, I’ll show you a short documentary about it, and then we’ll discuss what you’ve learned. Oui?” Mrs Blanc interpreted the silence that followed as an agreement, so she put a DVD into a DVD player and started the film.

“…Paris ............ Louvre ........ master artists .............. food .......... development ............. Versailles ........ after the war ................ Champs-Elysees ................” While Steve usually found similar lessons interesting, he was starting to get a headache. He spent the rest of the documentary watching it with one eye, while keeping the other on the clock and doodling into his notebook.

As such, he wasn’t either particularly active in the discussion that followed. Instead, he turned to a new page and started drawing. He began with a circle, followed with two smaller ones inside it. A few lines her and there and after each of them it looked more like a face – he was designing a new character for his animated series.

“That’s a nice drawing.” Steve heard a faint whisper. He looked over his left shoulder to find a pair of blue eyes looking at him. They belonged to a pale face, surrounded by long brown hair. Steve’s brain immediately went into overdrive, at the same time trying to remember the name of the owner of the face and finding a reply to the compliment.

“Thanks, .......... Laura.” was the best Steve could come up with. ‘I’m so pathetic.’ He thought to himself. He was really uncomfortable. He smiled at her in an attempt to ease the awkwardness, then he turned back to the notebook, hoping the ground underneath him would open up and swallow him before the class was over.

The rest of class was fairly uneventful. Mr. Giovanni started explaining the levels of obsession, the psychiatric diagnosis, and other and any other interesting tidbits he could think of. He then gave the class some free discussion time, only interrupting to steer them back when they got off track.

After School

Luc made her last trip of the day to her locker, and keeping only the few things she needed for homework plus the journal, headed out to the park. (Anyone who wants to walk there with Luc, feel free…) Daffodil Park was only a few blocks from the school, surrounded by roads and filled with loud splashing fountains and pesky honking geese. It was called Daffodil Park because the rich couple that had financially backed the park loved daffodils and tulips so much that they had hundreds planted around the ponds.

It certainly wasn’t Luc’s favorite place, but the background noise and relatively low foot traffic meant the Coven’s conversation would be relatively safe. She made her way to the bridge and waited for the rest of the group to show up.

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

I was about to tell her when the bell rang. Everybody bowed to their partner and headed to their respective Gym Lockers. I was about to put my jacket on when I realized I had worked up a sweat. That won't do. I pulled my shower towel out and went to shower the sweat away, putting my clothes over the side of the shower. Yea, I sometimes showered in my sport bra and underwear. This wasn't one of those days. The warm shower was just enough to wash the sweat away, and I didn't need to use soap. I dried off and put my clothes back on. I also put my Karate Uniform back in my Gym Locker, locking it and spinning the lock.

Anna had finished showering too and I was putting my shoes back on, along with the leg wraps. "So who's going to fill the void?" She asked me again as she put her own shoes back on, black 3 inch heels.

I waited a bit to tell her, watching her put on her white blouse and hairband on top of her long blond hair. She also checked that her bra was securely fastened and held up her nice C figure. Her perfectly white skin matched the color of the hairband. Then she realized I was staring. "Hello? Karai? I asked you a question."

I shook my head. "Oh, sorry. Um, Diego seems to like me. Do you know him?" I put my jacket on and she put hers on. We sat down to finish talking.

"I have Cooking and Advanced Algebra with him. Don't know much about him, but he seems nice I guess." She decided to start brushing her hair with a comb.

"Ah, I see."

Just as we had finished, Mrs. Martin came in to check before locking up the Gym Locker Room. The tall lady in her 40s was pretty athletic, and it fit that she taught Gym. "You girls gonna get out of here sometime today?" She asked us, walking over and shuffling us out into the Gym. "Now go home. You can talk there all you want!" She said with a laugh.

After School

Anna and I headed over to our lockers, which were nearby. Most of my friends had theirs in this hall, including the Coven members. I caught Luc leaving to go to our meeting place and was about to follow her......

"Oh look, if it isn't the school skank." Said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a Senior girl. She was taller than me and overweight.

"What do you want Donna?" I looked on as Anna ran off and waved goodbye. She was in a hurry to go home, and was generally a non confrontational kind of person.

"Or else I'll beat you up and take it from you." She cracked her knuckles at me again, trying to intimidate.

"Really? You haven't learned from the last time you tried this? I refuse. Do your worst." I hadn't even opened my locker yet, but I quickly did that and stuffed my bag in it then closed it. No sense getting the laptop damaged in the ensuing fight, as short as it would be.

Donna charged at me with her fists in a punching position. I sidestepped and tripped her, sending her flying head first into the lockers behind me with a metallic thud.

Getting up, she ran at me again and tried to kick me but I grabbed her leg and used her own momentum to flip her over my shoulder and head first into a nearby garbage can.

"Taking out the trash." I said to myself, giggling a little. Some of the kids cheered, while others helped Donna out of the garbage can and walked her away. Still others refused to even look at me, still believing the lies Becky put out and not wanting to meet eyes with me.

I opened my locker, put my bag back over my shoulder, and pulled the pizza box out. I also half stuffed my umbrella into it in case this he rain started again. This would be a good after school snack for the Coven when we met at the park. I checked the hall for teachers. We were on school grounds, and I could still get in trouble for fighting off Donna.

Diego didn't have the chance to talk about sociopathy, but he decided to save the topic for later. Meanwhile, he was simply enjoying the discussion as well as any other tidbits. However, his mind was also racing on how to protect Karai with Hank no longer here. His eyes darkened a bit as he tried to formulate plans. He wanted to protect Karai. SHe was too nice for her to have a bad reputation like that.

After school

When class ended, Diego went to Karai's locker and spotted one ofthe few people he didn't like.

Donna.

He saw her try to mug Karai. He highly doubted she could do that. Diego watched Karai easily take care her with grace. He smiled a bit as he watched her flow.

When the others left, he approached her.

"Wow, you're really talented," Diego told her. "Well, we might as well walk together to meet with the others before we head out," he told her with a smile. He walked along side her to Daffodil Park to talk about the events.

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"Eh, I bet Donna could do that if she was taking Karate in Gym like I am. And yea, let's walk to the park together." I answered him as I pulled my 3DS out of my bag.

I followed behind Diego as we headed to the park a couple of blocks away, playing Pokémon Black 2 and not really watching where I was going. I occasionally glanced up from the game to make sure it was safe to walk, but just managed to keep up behind him and in my field of vision.

When we arrived in the park we saw Luc was already there and I sat down over the side of the bridge near her. I saved the game and put away my 3DS. "Sorry we're late. I kinda had to take out the trash. And by that I mean Donna tried to steal my laptop, failing horribly at it." I pulled out the pizza box with 4 slices left for us to finish off eating and opened it for the others to dig in. The pizza had cooled and was a little lumpy now, but no doubt it would still be good. I started to chew on a slice.

Luc and Pete stood opposite each other one the bridge, as they waited for the rest of the group. Excitedly geese started to swim towards them, but soon realizing they weren’t interested in feeding them, the geese started to disperse.

Diego and Karai showed up together. Karai put away her 3DS, "Sorry we're late. I kinda had to take out the trash. And by that I mean Donna tried to steal my laptop, failing horribly at it," and took out the leftover pizza. Luc glanced at the greasy lumpy slices, feeling her stomach churn. Had she really eaten that?

Karai took out a slice and started eating. Luc looked away, checking the path both ways, no one seemed to be coming. She’d wait a few minutes for the other two Coven members before she started the meeting. It kind of felt good, having that much power in her backpack.

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

Soon enough, the bell went off. While slowly putting his things into his bag, Steve discreetly glanced at Laura. She was talking to a few other girls so Steve sighed and left the classroom. In his brain embarrassment, disappointment and self-pity were battling it out for the title of the dominant emotion. ‘What’s wrong with me? I can’t even talk to a classmate normally.’ Steve dragged himself to his locker, banged his head into it a few times out of frustration, took his umbrella out of it and headed for the exit.

“Where did you run off to earlier?” The voice was vaguely familiar. Steve turned around and to his surprise realised the voice was Laura’s. ‘It’s time for the second round social awkwardness.’ Steve thought to himself, while hoping for a better performance this time.

“I didn’t run off anywhere. I just went to my locker for a few things. Hi, by the way.” Steve scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. ‘Well done, that was even worse than before.’

Laura didn’t seem to be particularly bothered and continued. “Hi to you as well. I really liked your drawing. Do you draw a lot?”

“Not rea- I guess, I do. I mean, it’s probably more than most people, but I don’t do it more than a couple of times a month.” Slowly, Steve started to pull himself together.

“Would you draw something for me?” Laura asked teasingly. She leaned her head to the left and flicked a strand of hair off of her shoulder.

“Sure I could.” Steve snapped over-enthusiastically. “What would you like me to draw?” He continued in a more controlled manner.

“I’m not sure. I’d like something special. Maybe we could go to the park? You could get some inspiration there…”

“We could do that. I have nothing else planned for the afternoon. I just need to drop off this umbrella in my car.” Steve raised the umbrella a bit in case Laura hadn’t noticed it. For him this was turning into the best day in a long time.

After a few minutes had passed, Luc decided all the Coven members that were going to come, had come. She leaned up against the guardrail of the bridge and looked over them; Pete, Deigo, Karai. The Coven was dwindling, but these core members could reap benefits beyond their imaginations.

“So, some teachers are going on vacation. Looking through key historical points in the book, it seems events can only be set up twenty four hours or less ahead of time. So... As I mentioned at lunch…” Luc glanced nauseously at the remaining pizza, “I’ll set up Becky’s incident for tomorrow. In the meantime, I think we should figure out a few more tests to see how much power we really have.”

Yes, the power was definitely feeling good. She slipped her backpack off her shoulder and pulled out the journal and a pencil. She flipped the journal open to the last open page, “For example, it seems to work for good things too. How about I have Miss Carmel bring homemade cookies for us tomorrow?”

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

Diego had noticed they were down to the core members. The others were afraid and bailed out. The others must have thought it was coincidence or maybe some other 3rd reason, who could say?

However, it was down to him, Luc, Karai and Pete. Now, he trusted Karai fully,though he was wary she may try and kill someone. Luc seemed to be enjoying the thirst of power, which if Diego learned anything, led to not good things. Then there was Pete who may or may not be a sociopath. Diego didn't know how to know for sure.

Lastly, there was him, dealing with his dormant madness. Despite that, he wasn't sure if it would lead him to kill anyone. However, he was curious. What were the limits of the notebook? Was it only to this town?

Or could it be more?

In his opinion, Diego just wanted to win the lottery and live comfortably. He knew well how to finance. It wasn't that he didn't want to work, but it would allow him to live well while writing and while finding a job.

Besides that, he would use the notebook for influence, becoming the godfather of the media.

"How good is Miss Caramel at cooking though?" Diego couldn't help but point out as he continued to think what he could use the notebook for.

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Platinum Friend Code: 0775-1254-2777

We'd definitely thinned down. Either the others had chickened out, or didn't believe in the power of the journal. Whatever the case, it was just us four now. Of course I trusted Diego, but what about the others? Pete's suggestion earlier could have been hinting at his deeper dark ulterior motives that he wanted to keep from us and have happen anyway. Luc seemed comfortable with the book. A little too comfortable. Not that I didn't trust her, but still absolute power has been known to corrupt absolutely. Since the others didn't seem interested in the pizza leftovers and we had four left, I decided to start on another slice. Well somebody had to finish it, although I would probably end up taking at least two home. My thoughts raced about things.

We didn't know much about the journal. Who created the curse on it? Did Mrs. Bells do it, or was she like us and had just found it after the previous owner passed away? How far was the distance on it? Could we affect people in China?

None of us were particularly rich and could stand to improve our lives financially. If I asked my mom to buy a Power Ball ticket without telling her that I fixed the results using the cursed book, would she? Was it right for me to tamper with fate and luck like that, though?

"Right. Very happy about the teachers going on vacation, and it seems logical that it only allows a 24 hour window." I said as I nodded along at the mention of Becky's confession.

"Oh I love cookies, but it will mean I need to work harder on my home gym that night. But yea, can she cook? Forcing her to make cookies is silly if they come out burned and she can't serve them to the class because they taste like hockey pucks. I personally have no idea if she can cook, either." I echoed Diego's question and finished the pizza slice. Three left.

‘Four is death’. There were four of them left. Pete, Diego, Luc, and Karai. They had gathered at the noisiest place in the whole universe. Quite unlike himself, Pete stoically listened in on the conversation, not even touching the pizza Karai had brought. He listened intently figuring out motives and actions of the others, hoping to find a weak spot. He was intent on watching one person in particular. Karai. Diego had his eyes on her for quite some time, and she seemed highly curious, and just a bit scared. The element of timing was on his side today, and he decided to just wait it out and let others make decisions for him. that and, he didn’t even want to think about eating that cold pizza.

‘Karai... she’s innocent... pure? Maybe not? Well she likes cookies, that’s for sure, food too... ugh... this is kind of weird... what is my move? They want to its powers, but can’t we assume certain things? The notebook always works, not matter what? Ugh... I need to get that notebook somehow.. but how... ugh. How can I align with them? I need to read their social cues a slight bit more.. hmm’

"Oh I love cookies, but it will mean I need to work harder on my home gym that night. But yea, can she cook? Forcing her to make cookies is silly if they come out burned and she can't serve them to the class because they taste like hockey pucks. I personally have no idea if she can cook, either." said Karai, looking up after eating a piece of the frigid pizza. It would appear that she didn't really have too much of a concern for taste. Pete stood casually still, leaning up against the railing of the bridge. The pale blue river water reflected the sunny day and that was when he got an idea.

“Can all of you swim? I have a plan to see right now if really does work. Three of us sit on top of this railing, and the one person who isn’t writes: ‘So and So slips and falls into the river, and safely manages to get out without too much of a hassle’. If that person who falls is the same one as the one who falls into the river, then we’ll really know if it works. And y’know if it doesn’t work, we could always have someone else hang onto the book for a while.” Pete said rather quickly, he immediately regretted saying that last part, but he knew how to fix his goof up. He simply said, “Maybe Diego should hold onto it for a bit?”

Diego had a good point, to which Karai agree, non of them knew if Miss Caramel could cook.

Karai went for another piece of rock-like pizza.

“Okay, you have a point,” Luc muttered. Cookies were out, unless she could think of a way to make them idiot proof…

Pete seemed to be thinking about something else entirely and suggested, “Can all of you swim? I have a plan to see right now if really does work. Three of us sit on top of this railing, and the one person who isn’t writes: ‘So and So slips and falls into the river, and safely manages to get out without too much of a hassle’. If that person who falls is the same one as the one who falls into the river, then we’ll really know if it works. And y’know if it doesn’t work, we could always have someone else hang onto the book for a while. Maybe Diego should hold onto it for a bit?”

What? Luc glanced at the scummy water with geese and ducks swimming in it. Water fowl could really foul up the water. How could he even think that was okay? She wasn’t opposed to someone else holding the journal, as long as they were trustworthy, at least she hadn’t been. Maybe she had had it for too long? Still, no... she refused to go swimming.

Luc glared back at him, “I’m not getting in that water. Do you know how nasty that stuff is? There’s a no swimming sign for a reason... idiot.”

She turned to Diego, offering him the journal, “It may be time for me to give up the book though... It’s got a lot of power, we should probably take turns.”

Something in the back of her mind wondered what Pete would do when his turn to hold the book came. No, she told herself, Pete’s a good guy, I’ve known him long enough to know that. Well, maybe, “Do you guys think we need a list of rules? A Coven Contract?”

“Once, or twice, in a lifetime, if you're lucky, there are moments. Someone slices the world open,
right down the middle and you can see the sky behind it. The true world. And you understand your purpose.”
(Frances Booth - Channel Zero; Candle Cove)

Laura accompanied Steve to his Yaris where he tossed the umbrella across the back seats. Then they headed to the park, with Laura doing most of the talking. However, they barely came to the first trees when Laura’s cell phone rang.

“Yes?” She answered. Despite his attempts, Steve couldn’t hear what the person on the other side was saying. After a few seconds Laura continued. “I’m in the park with a friend. Can’t it wait?”

More silence.

“But, mom!” She was obviously annoyed.

Again some silence.

“OK, fine… Bye.” Laura sounded defeated. She angrily shoved the phone into her bag and then turned to Steve. “I’m sorry, Steve. I have to go home. See you in school.”

Before Steve managed anything more than a quiet “Bye.”, she was already off. He decided to have a walk in the park alone. It was a warm day and the park was filling pretty quickly as it often does on such days. Steve wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes before sitting down near one of the fountains. He managed to catch a weak Wi-Fi signal and browsed the internet for a few of his favourite sites.

On his way back to the car, he noticed four people he recognised from school. They were gathered around a pizza box. Normally, he would just ignore them, but today he was feeling different. He nervously approached them. “Hi. What are you doing here?”